


What is the Magic Therein?

by DiefaceJohnson



Category: Captain America (Movies), Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Established Relationship, M/M, Sam and Steve are really cute
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2014-09-02
Updated: 2014-09-02
Packaged: 2018-02-15 22:47:09
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,754
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/2246184
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/DiefaceJohnson/pseuds/DiefaceJohnson
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>Sam gives Steve a lesson in proper moisturization.</p>
            </blockquote>





	What is the Magic Therein?

**Author's Note:**

> Just a one-shot that I've had in my brain for months now. I originally intended to do a similar story for Rhodey/Tony but this one just kind of happened. 
> 
> Heavily inspired by (and title taken from) Bill Burr's lotion & guns bit from his You People Are All The Same stand-up special. If you want, you can watch here- https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-BSlqZYtWzQ - or on Netflix, and the bit starts around 11:40. I'm an advocate for watching the whole thing at some point or another, though, because he's a really good comedian.
> 
> Enjoy!

Steve was confused. Of course, there was nothing out of the ordinary about that; Steve got confused often, and in many aspects of life. He'd found that the best way to alleviate his confusion was to ask questions, but he wasn't always sure what questions were appropriate to ask. He decided to go for it now and apologize later if he ought to.

He cleared his throat to get Sam's attention. The man was sitting on the edge of the bed they shared, towel wrapped around his hips and shoulders still damp from the shower he just took. Sam looked up and raised a dark eyebrow. "Yes?"

"I was just wondering...why do you always do that?"

"Shower? Well, Steve, I'd hoped you had a better grasp of personal hygiene than this, but here goes. When a person doesn't bathe--"

"No, not that," Steve interrupted with a small laugh. Sam always knew how to get a chuckle out of him. "I meant, why do you slather on all that _stuff_ after every shower? And before we go to bed, too. Is there something wrong with your skin?" He knew that people used ointments for rashes and the like, but Sam had beautiful, smooth skin.

He half expected Sam to get upset with him for asking, because he still didn't have a great grasp of what kind of questions were...racially insensitive? Invasive? Not his to ask. But Sam didn't look angry, just exasperated, like he pitied Steve for having to ask.

"You're curious about lotion?" he asked, and Steve nodded, embarrassed. "Good for you, baby. C'mere." He patted the bed next to him and Steve went and sat beside his boyfriend. Sam's hair was still wet, shining droplets of water caught inside of short curls, and his skin smelled spicy like the bar of black soap he showered with. He pressed the tip of his nose to the shoulder closest to him and inhaled lightly of the scent. He loved the smell of Sam, always earthy but also sweet. But he didn't think smell was the only reason his boyfriend used all the products he did.

"Let's start with the basics," Sam said. "Why do _you_ think I put on lotion?"

"To be...shiny?" he asked. He really didn't know. Sam laughed at him, and Steve was already regretting his question. He pressed his forehead to Sam's shoulder so he didn't have to look at him. "I don't really know, Sam, I've never had to use it before."

"But maybe you should have," Sam said warmly. Steve looked up at him, curious. "See, there are a lot of reasons to moisturize, but the number one reason among black folk is so that we won't get ashy."

"Ashy?" Steve repeated. He'd heard the word before, as an insult used among black troops overseas, but he'd never really known what they'd meant by it.

"Dry skin," Sam explained. "Everybody gets ashy from time to time, but when you're as dark as I am, it's visible—that whole 'just leaned up against a chalkboard' look. When you guys are ashy you mostly just get itchy, maybe a little gray around the elbows and knees. If it's really bad you'll get alligator skin." Steve didn't like that 'you guys', being considered _other_ by Sam, but he understood that there were some distinctions that Sam had every right to make.

He said, "I don't know Sam, I don't think I remember ever being ashy," because he thought surely he'd remember having something as dramatic sounding as alligator skin.

"Oh puh-lease," Sam scoffed, lightheartedly.

He turned on Steve, gently shoving him down onto his back on the bed. His hands came to the waistband of Steve's sweatpants. Steve usually welcomed any such actions from Sam, but he didn't know how their conversation had led to this. "Uhm..." Sam tugged the loose pants down his hips before yanking them all the way off and tossing them onto the floor. Steve was left lying flat on his back in his bald eagle boxers and one of Sam's USAF t-shirts. Sam sat back down and pulled one of Steve's legs across his, hooking the knee over his thigh. Steve sat up straight. "What are you doing?"

Sam held up a finger. "Observe," he told Steve, and then he brought the fingers of that hand down to Steve's leg and lightly scratched the nails across his kneecap. In their wake, four white lines appeared on his pale skin. Steve stared, wide-eyed as Sam proceeded to crisscross the lines with others going perpendicular.

"You could play tic-tac-toe on my leg!" he exclaimed.

"Exactly. Because you, my love, are ashy." How could he have gone 90+ years on this planet without once noticing he was ashy? What else was Steve ignorant to? "Don't look so stricken," Sam told him, rubbing his palm up and down Steve's shin. "Ashy knees are a snap to handle. May I?" He held up the bottle of cocoa butter he'd been applying to his legs before Steve interrupted.

Steve nodded his ascent, again curious, and Sam smiled. He got up and pulled on boxers in place of the towel before he returned and adjusted their positions on the bed so that Steve was laying back again with Sam sitting cross-legged between his legs. The leg from before was raised, his foot resting up against one of Sam's pecs.

He watched Sam squeeze a dollop of lotion into his palm and then rub it between his hands for a moment before he began to use both hands to massage it into Steve's leg. He took a moment to enjoy the feel of Sam's warm hands gliding along his leg muscles. He hummed happily.

"Another reason to put lotion on," Sam said in an amused voice, "is because it can be soothing."

"I can see that now," Steve said, smiling up at his boyfriend.

Sam pressed a quick kiss to Steve's ankle. "Okay, now look." Steve sat up on his elbows and watched as Sam repeated his earlier movement, the light pressure of his blunt nails a tickling sensation against Steve's knee. The white marks did not appear this time. "See? You're nice and soft and hydrated." He continued on to do Steve's other leg too, because Steve had the sweetest partner on Earth.

When he was done, Steve sat up, letting his legs drop down over Sam's thighs, and pressed a firm kiss to the smile on Sam's lips. "Thank you for being so understanding and teaching me the wonders of lotion," he said when he pulled back.

"It was my pleasure," Sam responded. His smile turned mischievous as he added, "Honestly, I was looking for a way to broach the subject with you anyway. I mean, you go running around in shorts with your ashy knees on display and it gets back that you're with me, I could get my black card revoked." Steve released a huff of laughter, lacing his fingers together on the back of Sam's neck. "I don't know why you're laughing Rogers, the NAACP takes this stuff very seriousl-" The rest of Sam's sentence was lost as Steve silenced him with a second kiss.

Because he caught him mid-word, Steve was able to slot his mouth together perfectly with Sam's, his lover's top lip between both of his. He ran the tip of his tongue across Sam's lip and then sucked on it, before releasing it with a small pop. Sam loved when he did that. It was only a moment before his lips were being reclaimed, Sam licking eagerly into his mouth and pulling him in by the hips so that he was seated atop his legs. They made out like that for a what could have been hours but was probably more like minutes, before Steve used his strength to push Sam down onto his back. He shifted himself forward so that Sam could unfold his legs and get his feet flat on the bed, the feeling of Sam's growing hardness beneath his bottom an added bonus. He managed to get a hand on the bottle of lotion lying on the mattress and sat up a bit. When Sam tried to follow his lips, he sat straighter.

Sam pouted, the expression cuter than it had any right to be on a full grown man, and Steve chuckled, leaning down to suck in his offered bottom lip one last time to hold him over. He let his teeth drag over the soft flesh as he pulled away, because teasing begot teasing. "Man, what're you trying to do to me, Rogers?" Sam questioned.

"I'm trying to get my hands on you," he explained, squeezing some of the sweet smelling lotion into his hand. He rubbed his palms together like he'd seen Sam do.

"Well in that case," Sam said, moving to clasp his hands behind his head, "please do continue."

Steve brought his hands down to Sam's skin. He started off by rubbing the lotion into Sam's belly, feeling the strong muscles hidden beneath the deceptively soft skin, and then he moved to his flanks, ribs making themselves known beneath his pressing fingers. He applied more moisturizer to his hands and pressed a soft kiss to his lover's breastbone before he moved his hands to his chest. Sam had thick pectoral muscles, built up from hundreds of straining flights with his wingpack, and Steve loved the way they felt under his hands, sprinkled with black curls of hair--Sam's "taco meat" as he liked to call it. Dark nipples peaked under his attentions as he massaged them in circles with his thumbs. Sam hummed in contentment, eyes sliding shut.  

He rubbed lotion into Sam's muscular shoulders, and then paid special attention to one arm, followed by the other. When he was done, he laced his fingers with Sam's, sliding his hands up above his head and bringing their torsos together so that he could kiss those lips he loved so much.

He rolled off of Sam to lie beside him on the bed, and Sam's right arm came down to hug him into his side. They must've made quite the lazy picture, drowsing in their boxers when they ought to have been a quarter of the way through their run by now, but Steve couldn't bring himself to care. He turned over to sling an arm across Sam's stomach and buried his face in the soft brown skin beneath his boyfriend's armpit. He was glad he'd asked.


End file.
